Not many of us realize
the enormous investments that we, as a nation, have
made in the education sector. Looking at numbers
from the recent past, if we are to total up the
amount spent on education both by the Central Government
and the various State governments , we find that
as a nation we spend close to Rs 60,000 crores on
elementary education. There are about 160 million
children that should be the beneficiaries of this
investment which means that India spends about Rs.3,
750 per child per year. Then we get to the horrifying
statistic that our drop-out rate is nearly 53% -
what this rate implies is that the real cost of
educating our children is Rs. 3,750 times 2 which
is Rs. 7,500.

Why
are these numbers important? The simple fact is
that there are good private schools in our metros
that charge students Rs 7,500 per year and these
private schools provide facilities and learning
that is way above anything that the government
school system can deliver. It is not surprising,
therefore, to see such a high drop-out rate from
this system. To achieve the magic mantra of “enrollment,
attendance and performance” we must ensure
that the infrastructure of the school system exists
and works; we must ensure that teachers teach;
and, we must ensure that the large machinery we
have created for pedagogy, evaluation, and training
performs its role in creating relevant curricula.
In the absence of this, the education sector will
fail in providing returns in the form of vital
social outcomes and we will be left with the world’s
largest collection of illiterate people. If the
current system does not work, then it is the duty
of the government machinery as the supplier of
education services to the poor and rural citizens
to ensure that their minds are open to newer methods
and techniques that will bring language and numeracy
skills to all children.

On our part, we are ready
with field-proven techniques to impart language
and numeracy skills in 45 working day modules.
We would urge the government to evaluate this
and use this – we should declare an audacious
goal of bringing reading skills to all children
in the state within three years. It is perhaps
then that the drop-out rate will reduce and that
costs of the government system will be more reasonable.

Ashok Kamath
Managing Trustee

The Summer Camp Programme

For the first time, Akshara
Foundation organized a summer programme for its
children in 9 locations across the city. 322 children
participated in the programme and the majority of
them were from government schools. What follows
are glimpses from the fun filled 5-day period.

Glimpses................

Day 1 - 16th May 2005

Children arrive
much ahead of time to enroll for the five-day
summer programme being held at Old Gurrapanpalya,
Yarabnagar, Srinagar, Kamalanagar, Heggenahalli,
Bapujinagar and D.J.Halli ERCs located in the
North and South of Bangalore.
The inaugural session at Old Gurrapanapalya (S3
block) commences with Mr. Sirajuddin Makki (SDMC
President), and other SDMC members enquiring from
the children their expectations from the 5-day
programme.
“ We want to learn to make toys, clay modeling
and how to perform magic,” remark some of
the children.
Mr. Chandrashekar, Ms. Anita (SDMC members) and
Mr. Hemant (a social worker from the area) express
their happiness over the summer programme being
organized at the Kamalanagar Government School
(N1 block) for the first time.
On the first day, the children are engaged in
making wall hangings and greeting cards from bamboo.

Day 2 - 17th May
2005

35 children are
engrossed in an innovative reading-based craft
making activity at the Yarabnagar center. They
are painting the designs and names of their favourite
book titles on ceramic beads. “Suryana Kopa”
and “Echa Poocha” are amongst some
of the most popular. Hundreds of beads made by
these children formed a part of a collaborative
piece of art called “Reading Beads “.
This piece of art, once completed was displayed
as a public installation at one of the art galleries
in Bangalore.
At Bapujinagar (S2A block) the programme begins
with a “Treasure Hunt”. Children compete
with each other to find the hidden treasure.
The second day also introduced a story reading
session in all seven centers. “Kindari Jogi”,
“Dhoomdhar chooha”, "Mayada Pathre"
and "Quirquincho and the Fox" were popular
stories that caught the attention of children.

Word
wings (A written word building in English
and a number game developed by the Hippocampus
Reading Foundation, Bangalore) and a Kannada
package on similar lines developed by the
Ashore Team, had each child completing the
activity worksheets on the second and third
day.

Day 3 - 18th May 2005

Children in all seven centers
used a scale to measure out, draw and cut out
seven pieces of the “tangram”, an
interesting Chinese puzzle, which could be assembled
in at least 1600 shapes.
The craft making “origami” had children
making different objects from paper. They included
a peacock, an inkpot and a paper cup subsequently
used in a simple scientific experiment.

Day 4 - 19th May 2005

Ms. Ranjani of
SAP LABS donated CDs on the Panchatantra and other
moral stories. These were screened in all the
ERCs on the fourth day.
Children also spent time assembling various jig
saw puzzles and playing indoor games such as passing
the parcel, snakes and ladders etc.

Day 5 - 20th May 2005

The final
day programme had SDMC members, teachers and
parents attending an exhibition, which displayed
the art, craft and written work done by children
over the four-day period. Children also put
up a small stage performance.

Display
of craft at Old Gurrapanapalya

Feedback on the five-day
programme from some of the centers

“My children Suma and Lata enjoyed
participating in the summer programme. It
has helped promote their creative and social
skills”.Bhagya
(Parent- Kamlanagar)
“Akshara Foundation has taught me
different activities and all these were
not known to me before. I will teach my
neighbours and friends who have not been
able to come for the camp. We had no idea
that summer camp would be so much fun. I
wish to thank the volunteers who taught
us all these fun activities, especially
Ms. Farhana".Shobha
K (Participant-Kamalanagar)

“
I was very happy attending the summer camp.
The volunteers and teachers encouraged me
to come to the center. I learnt a lot this
year and would like to come back for a similar
programme next year. “ Aruna
(Participant -Kamalanagar)
“ Painting on the clay beads was an
new and interesting experience. We shall
tell our friends about it when we get back
to school “. Ananda,
(Karisandra school) & Puneeth Kumar
and Anjali (Channasandra school)

We would like to thank
the following people for helping us conduct
the Summer Camp successfully - Ms. Nishwath
(Hippocampus Reading Foundation), Ms. Ranjini
(SAP LABS) , Mr.
Rohan (Kotak Mahindra Bank) and Ms. Beena
Oolapally.